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Club hockey is weird because the schools seem to set the criteria for what makes M2, M3 etc.RMU told us the levels there really have to do with commitment after the one team. So if you don't want to practice much per week, maybe you look at the last team. Your skill might not mean much between those levels. My boy was told he could play any level there he wanted to, depending on how much time he wanted to devote. And for RMU....there is reason club hockey was not touched when they cut the D1 program. Those teams do attract kids and tuition. Some of those schools, hockey is a draw for people and the school uses hockey as an attraction. Everything Danner said is right on, except in the last few years, it has become harder to make a club team at a big school, which is so disappointing. (And all the more reason not to be chasing around these faux AAA teams, etc) Frustrating that spots are taken up by older players who had the money to pay to play for those Tier III Jr teams. And the pandemic caused a bottle neck. The schools my boy got admitted to, some with fantastic hockey programs and who recruited him heavily.... academically did not have what he wanted to study or were ..not very good schools. Or located in a really bad area like IUP. And like Danner said, at the end of the day, they aren't getting a degree in hockey. The area of study, the school itself, finances, fit for kid... should come ahead of the hockey. If you get the hockey, treat it as a bonus. It all ends at some point. Soon they will be terrorizing us old farts still trying to play.

IUP is always on the fringe socially because it like Slippery Rock is an affordable State school with a multitude of social issues. Our family looked at Pitt, Ohio, RMU and others and my question was were we going to put our family and son into debt for many years. The solution was get an undergraduate degree + MBA from SRU and IUP , which thanks to a smart kid who applied himself is paying off. The Hockey was a bonus and those adult league teams are filled with kids from Pitt, Ohio, RMU and others.

A few years ago, before Lindenwood went NCAA D1, their ACHA team played Denver and lost 9-1. Denver played their scrubs and outshot them 58-14. https://denverpioneers.com/news/2021/10/2/du-pioneers-hockey-defeats-lindenwood-in-exhibition.aspx This season, Minot State gets a shot at Colorado College and Denver on 12/29 and 12/30. https://msubeavers.com/news/2023/3/1/mens-hockey-minot-state-hockey-to-clash-with-ncaa-national-champion-denver-pioneers.aspx

I’m just trying to be honest. I made a lot of hockey mistakes with my kids, mainly my oldest. You live and learn. I’m not happy my Alma is having so many issues. College is some of the best years to be young.

Danner, seems that you do know your ACHA hockey. And for that matter the entire after Midgets College hockey scene. Thanks for the analysis. I do hope you are a little wrong because it is nice to see a SWPA team in the top 20. I'm still watching PIHL and PAHL games and have not seen an ACHA or D-3 game in a long, long time. I'm just really glad there are some options for local kids to play hockey after PIHL and PAHL. I feel like you just want to give us all a dose of reality! Which is a good thing, so we can see the next level with eyes wide open!

I’ve seen Pitt play duqesne, I watched both Adrian games. Liberty is always on espn plus. I’ve watched the streams for Ohio, Arizona State, Mary, Lawrence Tech, Minot along with m2 & m3 games. I have seen a ton of club hockey the past 4 years or so due to my boys watching - watching some of their friends, me seeing how kids are doing that played with my boys, families we got to know etc. some of these streams are very well done, almost cable broadcast quality. Personally I’d say Pitt is a 30 team in M1. Lose thier best player and they drop. 1st Adrian game Pitt had 5 power plays but only managed 10 shots the entire game (zero goals). Pitt has that 14 due to their new leauge. I bagged on pitt for the move, I was wrong. Someone in charge saw the rapid decline of the chma coming. @Pa Hockey is correct - after those top 8-10 teams M1 changes drastically. you have a tier that’s good from 10-30. then everyone else looks the same with a few usual suspects filling out the bottom (3 chma teams are always down there). M2 & M3 are pretty much identical. Each has their top few teams and bottom bad teams. There is a good amount of cross over play between the two. That national champ M3 hope team would beat every chma team without a problem. I don’t know the criteria that makes a team m2 vs m3 (or m1 for that matter) for whatever reason western pa school’s & some eastern Ohio are just m1 & m3. If I recall correctly the first club team’s in western pa were M3. Pitt played in the M3 CHE? Someone around here has to be older than me or know the answer around here. I’ve seen kids that got a little time in the nahl end up on m3 teams due to the school they decided to attend. To put the acha in complete perspective - UNLV got beat down 12-1 something of that sort a year or two ago by a small ncaa d1 program, Alaska Fairbanks. I think that was on espn or espn plus when I watched it. If it wasn’t for the unlv goalie it would have been worse. Alaska dressed 5 lines for the game. Their bottom players & normal scratches got a lot of icetime. The main thing I remember was how bad NCAA d1 skaters made the top ACHA skaters look. The difference was very noticeable. Now that I recall this, I am wondering if it was Arizona, I’m going to stick to unlv, Arizona also played a small or new ncaa d1 team at one point. please don’t point to LIU that was an oddity for various reasons. The ACHA is beer leauge with a great social media presence. Pick a school for the school, not hockey. It’s not ment as a knock, just the truth. If these young men still enjoy playing, keeps them out of trouble, gives them more to enjoy in college, a path to make more friends - I am all for it. This is why club hockey was created. It wasn’t created to be marketed & attract kids to a school. so what about NCAA D3? Well, like the acha, after the top 8-10 teams it takes a hard turn, it turns into acha hockey but It’s a marketing machine for kids and parents that want to say they play NCAA hockey. I could mention one name here most everyone would know playing NCAA D3, everyone would chuckle because they probabaly have forgotten the loaded with cash family name. 75% of these schools you wouldn’t spend the cost on for college if it wasn’t for hockey. We know a good amount of kids playing ncaa d3 hockey. none of them would make those elite 8-10 acha teams. Most of them wouldn’t be the top 2 lines at Pitt. as for rankings - I thought a few years back the ACHA did use MHR. Currently they use their own computer rankings for M1,2 & 3. I feel like I remember some chatter about them leaving MHR, folks were not happy, maybe I am wrong.